The Empire Stores are a row of Civil War-era coffee warehouses on the Brooklyn waterfront, and they now hold, among other things, a food hall spread across two floors with a roof terrace on top. The food is curated rather than leased — the operator picks the vendors instead of renting to whoever applies — which produces a more consistent line-up than most halls manage. But the genuine asset here is not on either of the two food floors. It is upstairs, looking at the bridges, and most people find it by accident on the way out.
The roof is weather-dependent, seasonal and the whole reason this beats a food hall in Manhattan. Ask Karpo whether it is open and what the light is doing before you commit the afternoon to Dumbo.
Plan upward, not along
The instinctive way to use a food hall is to walk the ground floor, pick something, and sit wherever there is space. Here that reliably produces the worst version of the visit, because the ground floor is the busiest, the most enclosed and the least interesting part of the building.
The better sequence is to go up first, establish whether the roof is open and whether there is anywhere to sit, and then come back down to order. Food travels up perfectly well; a table on the roof does not become available on demand.
The upper indoor floor is the compromise position and an underrated one — quieter than the ground floor, with windows onto the water, and it stays usable when the weather has shut the terrace. When the roof is closed, that is where you want to be.
Curated rather than leased
The model here is that the operator's editorial team selects the vendors, typically bringing in outposts of restaurants that already have a reputation elsewhere in the city. That is a meaningfully different proposition from a hall that fills its units with whoever will pay the rent.
The practical benefit is a higher floor on quality. You are unlikely to have a genuinely bad meal, which is not something you can say about every food hall in New York. The practical cost is that the line-up rotates, so a specific counter you read about may no longer be there.
It also means the offer skews towards recognisable names rather than discoveries. If the appeal of a food market for you is finding something unexpected, this is the wrong format; if it is eating well without research, it is close to ideal.
The roof is a seasonal asset
It is an open terrace on the East River, directly beneath two of the most photographed bridges in the world, and it is exposed. That means it is glorious from late spring through early autumn and unpleasant or shut for a good part of the rest of the year.
Wind off the water is the underrated factor. Even on a mild day the terrace can be noticeably colder than the street, and on a windy one it is genuinely uncomfortable in a way the temperature forecast will not warn you about.
Late afternoon into sunset is when it earns its reputation, with the light coming across the water onto the Manhattan skyline. That is also, inevitably, when everyone else has the same idea, so the seat-first strategy matters most precisely then.
Using Dumbo around it
The building sits between the two bridges on a stretch of waterfront that has been comprehensively rebuilt into parkland. Brooklyn Bridge Park runs in both directions with lawns, piers and some of the best views of Manhattan available at ground level.
That makes takeaway a serious option rather than a fallback. Buying downstairs and eating on the grass or on a pier is frequently better than eating indoors, and it costs nothing but a five-minute walk.
The cobbled streets immediately inland are the postcard Dumbo — very photogenic, very crowded at weekends, and worth twenty minutes. Beyond them the neighbourhood gets quieter quickly, which is where to head if the crowds become tiresome.
Getting there and when to go
Access is straightforward by subway, with stations a short walk in two directions, and considerably more pleasant by ferry or on foot across the Brooklyn Bridge. Arriving over the bridge and eating here is a genuinely good afternoon.
Weekends are extremely busy, particularly in good weather, and the whole waterfront absorbs a large number of visitors. Weekday afternoons are dramatically calmer and the roof is far easier.
Some counters keep shorter hours than the building, and the roof in particular can close earlier than the food floors depending on weather and season. If the roof is the point, arriving late in the evening is a risk rather than a plan.
Practical notes
Go up and secure a seat before you order. Food carries upstairs easily; a rooftop table does not appear on demand.
The upper indoor floor is the fallback when the roof is closed, and it is quieter than the ground floor either way.
The terrace is exposed and wind off the river makes it colder than the street. Bring a layer outside high summer.
The vendor line-up rotates. Do not travel for one specific counter without checking it is still there.
Brooklyn Bridge Park is a minute away — buying downstairs and eating on the grass is often the better plan.
Weekday afternoons are far calmer than weekends, and the roof may close earlier than the food floors.
Arriving on foot across the Brooklyn Bridge, or by ferry, is a considerably better approach than the subway and turns the meal into the end of an afternoon rather than a stop.
The cobbled streets just inland are the photogenic part of the neighbourhood and are worth twenty minutes; head further in and the crowds drop away quickly.
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Ask Karpo first
The roof makes this trip and the roof depends on the weather. Ask Karpo whether it is open, what the wind off the river is doing, and whether the park is the better plan this afternoon.
